A fire in Harrisburg, Cutter Bill’s and the Binz

A few items crossed the History Desk in recent weeks so let’s get down to business.

A BCH reader recently sent me this photo of a 1930s fire in Harrisburg. According to the reader, the address is 1111 Broadway.

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Patrick Keegan : Contributed photo

Westheimer near Chimney Rock

Another reader recently went through some of his grandmother’s old negatives and found this picture of Westheimer near Chimney Rock around the late 1970s. That’s Cutter Bill’s Western Wear in the center of the photo.

According to the group, the area, located near the Museum District, was developed in the 1910s. Some of the city’s most prominent architects created significant homes in the neighborhood, including a home for businessman and statesman William L. Clayton that is now part of the Clayton Library.

Tickets are $10 per person ($7 for GHPA members and students with valid ID). Children 11 years old and under are admitted free. Tickets go on sale at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in front of the Clayton Library, 5300 Caroline St. Reservations are not required.

Free on-street parking is available on Caroline and surrounding streets. There are no public restroom facilities on the tour route.

29 Responses

It is, Bamatex. And the Cutter Bill’s location became a gentleman’s club for a while. I spent on obscene amount of money in the Cutter Bill’s store in the early ’80s – still have a 10X hat I bought in there for $350! After nearly 30 years it still looks good.

Cutter Bill’s. Wow, Urban Cowboy days. I have a great story about that place that includes alligator skin boots and a Corvette but I’m not sure the statute of limitations has run out…

Lewis & Coker and Baskin Robbins, Southwest Datsun, yep I knew that corner well in the mid 70′s (judging by the lip on that Nova I’d say this picture has to be at least 1974 or later). Adnan Kashoggi buying up all the little houses in the neighborhood behind Cutter Bill’s (Lamar Terrace?) and then letting them go to seed. I think he may have been caught up in arms smuggling or something like that during our first Afghanistan engagement (Charlie Wilson’s War). Summer days at the Briargrove swimming pool (the neighborhood sold off the tract and a house sits there now). I believe Danny’s Auto Service is still in the same place next to the old pool on Chimney Rock.

Testimony showed the millionaire rancher had been running a network that used shrimp boats to smuggle about 150,000 pounds of Colombian marijuana into Texas and then trucked it to four Cauble ranches in North Texas for distribution.

He spent time in federal prison before his release in 1987 and was ordered to forfeit almost one-third interest in Cauble Enterprises, a three-way partnership valued at more than $80 million.

In what was called in 1985 the largest forfeiture under federal racketeering laws, the government gained control over a Denton bank and two Cutter Bill stores, including the Houston store. The building and 2.09-acre site at 5647 Westheimer was sold in 1987 to an unnamed buyer for $2.7 million.”

i had a golf shop in the lewis and coker center during that time. cutter bills use to serve whiskey freely to their customers. i can’t tell you how mamy of them staggered across westheimer to my store. amazing no one got run over.

side note

use to date a girl that met caubles son, he asked her out,picked her up, took her to the airport and flew to dallas for dinner in the family jet.

The Harrisburg Photo: Note the Southern Select beer sign. I think it was made in both Houston & Galveston. They were ahead of their time. Toward the end, they had an early version of “lite” beer, Southern Select for women. They also had a Southern Select for men. The dominant color for one was red, the other blue. There was a place you could rent for large gatherings in my local area that had two Southern Select “tubs” for icing down kegs. One was red and the other blue.

I well remember the Lewis & Coker. It was a small but very busy store. Right down Westheimer was the Village Inn pizza place. The A & W root beer drive in was next door. I remember being offered an alcoholic drink at Cutter Bill’s. That suprised me as I didn’t look the part. I never wore western clothes or boots although I did own a bunch of mamma cows.

Ah. Westheimer near Chimney Rock. This picture is exactly where an HPD police officer rear ended my newly paid for Toyota Corolla in 1981 and TRIED to blame me for the accident. He checked every tail light, license, insurance, etc. but couldn’t find anything I did wrong. When his superior showed up and then his superior showed up the evidence out did the good-ole-boy system and the responsiblity for the accident fell to the officer. My Corolla was repaired and I was totally shocked.

And like DanMan, I’m not sure concerning the statute of limitations, but can say it was in interesting period to live in Houston.

Debbie Lee, yea that’s VIP. However, Rogers was one of many “nightclub” performers to play there – Roy Head, B.J. Thomas, bunches of groups, even C&W like Isaac Payton Sweat. The house band (more or less) was Dean Scott and the Cosmos Circus with Frog and the guys.

Wonder if the Binz tour will mention that the Binz was originally known as “The West End” as in “West End of Third Ward.” A number of longtime 3rd Ward residents I’ve known maintain that 288 – one of Houston’s earliest freeways and for many years the most under-utilized – was placed where it was by cynical, greedy developers (in Houston? Perish the thought!) to cut off the “nice” part of Third Ward – for eventual upscale Med Center-area housing – from the “bad” part of the Trey. I do remember (late 80s) when the area around the Artery over to Greene BBQ was predominately African-American until rents and taxes doubled. Jimmy “T-99″ Nelson always refered to the Binz (where he lived from the mid ’50s on) as the West End and said it had been almost exclusively black until 288 was built.

Ah yes, Cutter Bill’s… the sight of some early embarrassment. I moved here back in the 70s (from Damyankeeland). I had a couple of friends from my old hometown flying down for a visit. So, not knowing many places to eat I asked a guy who sat next to me in home room (I was in high school at the time) the name of a decent restaurant. Of course I still had my obnoxious yankee accent.

He paused a moment and said, “Yew outta take ‘em to Cutter Bill’s! Great food!” The guy sitting on his opposite side piped up and said, “Sure is” or something like that.

My friends fly in and that Friday evening I tell them that “I’m going to take youse guys to some autentic Texas barr-be-cue.” So I load them into my Skylark and we drive over to Westheimer and Chimney Rock. We drove all the way down Memorial, me not knowing about San Felipe and stayed on it all the way to Chimney Rock. So the trip was pretty long. We pull up at 8:30 and the place is closed. We can’t figure out what’s going on. I see the sign that says Cutter Bill’s Western Wear. I then realized that I’d been had by these two clowns, who laughed their um, heads off the following Monday morning after asking me, “So, how was Cutter Bill’s barbecue, yankee?”

The picture of Westheimer reminded me of something I said to my best friend last weekend: “Man, remember when Westheimer was only three lanes each way east of Wilcrest?” And he finished up with, “And two ways to the west?”

Looking at the picture I’m amazed at how little traffic is going past the camera in the middle of a late winter or early spring day.

Debbie Lee & Lazarus: I got hitched in 1969. That about ended my trips to the Village Inn. I don’t remember any well known entertainment. Likely that was because I was checking out the nice females that always seemed to be there in abundance. As you entered, most couples went to the tamer right side and most singles went to more boisterous room to the left. The V.I. was a favorite of my future wife. She never went w/o a fella, so she always went to the right. Likely we were there at the same time often as that was my second home. I guess I should have checked out the other side because the first time I laid eyes on my wife, I was head over heels in love.

Years ago, a broker told me that the Binz-area Binz, Caroline) was where development was going until the beginning of World War II. There was little, if any, new home construction going on during the war, and afterwards, the developers headed west and southwest and bypassed Binz. That explained why, said the broker, in the 70s, you would see a lot of vacant lots in that close-in neighborhood.

Had some of that “free” Cutter Bill whiskey one day and ended up buying a silver belt buckle and a pair of Nacona boots. The horse on the sign ended up somewhere. I used to know but can’t remember. Anyone know?

To: sonny shade – I lived on Larkin St until I was 7 years old Near Roy Circle Division. I’d like to know what Pete Peteson, Sr. was known for. Just curious. I still drive thru the old neighborhood now and then. That being Cottage Grove – some of the streests were Petty, Darling, Cohn and then to the West End near Birdsall and Washington Ave until I married and moved away to the F.M. 1960 area in the late 70′s. I was born and raised in Houston so there is not enough time or space for me to start on memories – so I will just hush, LOL.

Eli: Nope. We have the photos and all, but I think writing about two racially-charged incidents in Houston’s past (Joe Campos Torres and Carl Hampton) is enough for me this year. I’ll do it soon, though.

I just finished reading a historical fiction novel set in Houston in the early part of the 20th century but the book begins in what was then called Harrisburg. Where would what used to be Harrisburg, TX be located in present day Houston?

Three of my favorite western style shirts came from Cutter Bill’s. Solid color, red, blue and dark gray, 100% cotton that looked iridescence depending on which way the light hit them. Wish I still had them today.

I spent alot of money in Cutter Bill’s just showing out for the gals. Cutter Bill ( the horse) was featured at the Rodeo several times in a pen in the horse area. Great looking horse and athelete. Kinda had that “TRIGGER” look. PS. little know fact, KMART FOODS was really Lewis & Coker foods!!!!!

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